Here are some of the cakes I have baked for those perfect afternoon teas. There’s nothing quite like it, especially on a frosty, cold winters day, with some of your close friends round, all huddled around the fire with a nice hot drink and a lovely slice of heaven.

Tarte au citron et miel : Lemon and honey tart

This recipe is elegantly simple, You can have it made in a matter of minutes but to save even more time, why not nip in to one of your local supermarkets and get either fresh ready roll sweet pastry or even buy a couple of the sweet tart pastry cases, They aren’t home-made but still delicious and all the famous baker’s and chef’s often suggest and use it.

Firstly roll out long cylinder strips of icing and wrap them around the cake. Then roll out a ball of icing and using the base of the cake tin you used, cut out a circle and place on top. NOTE: All gum paste and fondant icing is coloured with Squires Kitchen Pastes.

The colour paste used is Soft beige and Chestnut Beige mixed with a little water and painted on top and a little around the edges.

Scones are a traditional tea time treat loved by many. They taste so good, you would think they were difficult to make? but think again.

Scones are really quite simple:

Fruit scones:

225g (8oz) Self-rasing flour, Pinch of salt, 50g (2oz) Margarine, make into breadcrumbs. Add your dried fruit and enough milk to form a soft dough and ‘Bob’s your uncle’ or instead of dried fruit you could always use some of them delicious glaceed cherries. Yum!